In US 2005/0244099 A1 a cantilevered micro-electromechanical switch array is described comprising flexible micro-electromechanical switches with latching mechanism. The switches comprise a base layer having a conductive trace and at least one contact and a flexible cantilevered platform having a conductive trace and at least one contact aligned with said base layer conductive trace and contact; said base layer and said cantilevered platform maintained in a spaced apart by a spacer layer if no bias is applied to said conductive traces and in mechanical engagement at one portion of said cantilevered platform when a bias is applied to said conductive traces; and a latching or self-locking mechanism for maintaining said cantilevered platform in mechanical engagement with said base layer after said bias is removed. The latching mechanism is characterized by a latch trace with a latch trace contact and a latch power trace with a latch power contact on the base layer and a bridge contact on the flexible cantilevered platform. Latch contact trace transfers power to latch trace so that the flexible cantilevered platform is maintained in the deflected position as long as the appropriate bias is applied to latch power trace even if the bias is removed from the conductive traces. It is a drawback of this switch with latching mechanism that the latch trace has to comprise sufficient area of conductive material to maintain the switch in the closed state increasing the size of the switch.